


the end

by astratic



Series: post sburb [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, M/M, teen rating is for language! consistent with canon lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-22 00:48:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13752735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astratic/pseuds/astratic
Summary: “The end. See,” you take your hand from him and indicate a space of about two feet, “this is the timeline. It’s all the moments available in this universe. There’s a start—us winning the game—and an end.”





	the end

You watch people pass by. They hurry. They have places to be. You have nowhere to be but right here.

“You know,” you rub the pad of your thumb over his knuckles, “Sometimes I think we missed out on something, never getting old.”

He grunts, taking a sip of his drink, “Dave, we are literally so fucking old. We are the oldest thing on this planet, including the planet itself.”

“You know what I mean. We stopped aging at what? Like twenty five? Whatever that is in troll years—”

“You know exactly what it fucking is—”

“We’ll never be wrinkled and all tottering around and shit, you know? Sometimes I wonder what it’s like.”

Karkat looks at you like you just spat something out directly on his donut, “I, for one, am glad I made it out of the shit end of the lifespan lottery. Getting old sucks ass, end of story.”

“Baaaabe, don’t be like that,” he rolls his eyes at your tone, “’M just tryna be all legit and introspective as an immortal god of this universe—”

He sighs, “Fine, alright. Sometimes I wonder too, okay? Just, the idea of what it would be like to get old, to see a definite endpoint to all this. Sometimes it sounds…nice.” He looks at the table.

You squeeze his hand, “I could tell you when it is.”

He looks startled, “What?”

There’s a breeze tugging at the open ends of your jacket, and it reminds you of a stronger wind, and a cape. “The end. See,” you take your hand from him and indicate a space of about two feet, “this is the timeline. It’s all the moments available in this universe. There’s a start—us winning the game—and an end.”

Karkat shifts in his seat, drawing his sweater closer around him, “How do you know?”

“I can feel it. I could go there, but I haven’t. I just know there’s a place I can’t travel past,” you shrug, “Dunno what causes it.”

“And you're—you’re okay with this? You’ve been sitting on this all this time?”

“Bro. You just said that an end sounded nice.”

“Yeah,” he splutters, “When it’s hypothetical! What happens after that? Do we die? Does an afterlife exist here, outside the game? Does it even apply to gods?”

“I dunno,” you reach over and pick up his drink, taking a long sip as he glowers at you, “You’re cute like that. Mental note: make Kat angry more often. I missed that face.”

He snatches his cup out of your hand, “You can’t just casually say something like you know when the universe ends, and expect me not to freak the fuck out about it!”

“Why? I’m guessing you don’t want to know, then?”

“Fuck no!”

“Look at me,” you take his hands in yours, leaning in close, “The entire lifespan of a universe is enough time for anyone. It seems scary now, but when you get there you’ll be ready.”

“Oh, what? Are you a seer now?” His eyes are glistening.

“No. But I know how long it is, and it’s a long, long, long time. Even you will have run out of neuroses by then. I promise.”

“How are you so calm about it?”

You shrug, sitting back a little, “Endings are my thing. That’s what Time is. Entropy, endings, death. I’m okay with it.”

Karkat takes his hands from you and scrubs them over his face, “Will you warn me when it’s going to happen?”

You laugh, “Sure. I’m fine with being the harbinger of universal apocalypse. But, to be fair, I don’t think anybody will be surprised when it happens. Something as huge as an entire universe doesn’t just go out without a whole hell of a bang.”

Karkat sits back in his chair, a lot less agitated than a few moments before, “Do you think we’ll be together when it happens?”

“What does that mean? Why wouldn’t we be?”

He looks at the ground and picks at the hem of his shirt, “I mean, I don’t want to be alone when I die once and for all. How do I know you won’t get tired of me and fuck off to some distant galaxy.”

Something tugs at the corner of your mouth, “Karkat, are you proposing to me?”

He pouts, “You just had to go and make this into some joke at my expense, didn’t you?”

“No way!” You slide out of your chair onto the ground, getting on one knee in front of him. You take his hand, “Karkat, I swear to whatever gods are out there who aren’t us, I will never get tired of you. I’ll be with you at the end of the universe, and we’ll go into whatever oblivion lies beyond this realm together. A fucking men.”

The noise that comes out of him is something between a laugh and a sob, “Get off the ground, you douche.”

You obediently place your ass back in the uncomfortable patio chair. Why does shitty furniture seem to be a multiversal constant?

“I do however reserve the right to fuck off to a distant galaxy at occasional points in the interim. Dude’s gotta have some space.”

Karkat nods in mock consideration, “That’s fair. I don’t know if even I could handle an uninterrupted front row seat to Cirque du Strider for all of eternity anyway.”

“So it’s settled? We’re gonna grow old together?”

“We’re already old, jackass.”

“We’re also eternally young, but you don’t see me splitting any goddamn hairs.”

“You’re the one who said it in the first place.”

“UGH. Fine,” you smile at him, a crack in your mock frustration, “We are already old, but we’ll get so fucking ancient nobody can even fathom our decrepitude. And we’ll also paradoxically stay twenty five forever. Because gods. And then we’ll watch the world end. Again. And probably die or something. And we’ll do all that together.”

He nods, “Sounds about right.”

“Good.”

You lace your fingers with his and watch the people of this planet rush by, consumed in their short, bright lives. You look at Karkat and think of your friends, scattered as they are and yet bound together. You haven’t seen them in millennia, but you’re not worried. You have time.

“We literally have all the time in the world.”

**Author's Note:**

> this was originally posted on tumblr [here](http://azurenoon.tumblr.com/post/128142412893/the-end)


End file.
